The Herald-Leader reported that $2.5 million added to the Boni Bill. Many are applauding this as a good first step. What the the Cabinet needs – more workers. What the Cabinet gets – panic buttons. Someone please tell me how a panic button would prevent another tragedy like what befell Boni Frederick at a home visit? What the Cabinet needs – more workers. What the Cabinet gets – visitation facilities. So home visits are no longer going to occur? No investigations into the homes? No trial visits with the children at the home? Everyone’s visits scheduled around when one of the visitation rooms is open?

No – I think this is a waste of money. This is a $2.5 million dollar token tossed to voters. The Cabinet needs more workers and not just the 300 Gov. Fletcher discussed. They needed more than 300 workers a decade ago and they still need them. I am asking the legislators to not throw away this money on quick fixes that really do not address the problems. Give the Cabinet the staff it needs. More staff means a lower case load. A lower case load means increased safety because the worker has more time to be thorough. This means a greater awareness of risks to their safety and the ability to team up like police do when responding to high risk situations. This means being able to better assess families and the safety of the children so that unnecessary removals are less likely to occur. This means fewer terminations of parental rights because increased services can go to families where the children had to be removed.

The Cabinet needs more workers and anything less is a waste of resources.